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Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie

Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie in 1903
Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie in 1903
Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942),  archaeologist,  bom  at  Charlton,  Kent,  on  17  June  1853.  His  father,  William  Petrie,  was  a  civil  engineer  and  surveyor; his mother, Anne, was the daughter of Matthew Flinders,  the navigator and explorer. Petrie was a delicate child, educated by  his  parents  at  home.  His  mother  taught  him  music,  history,  and  French, and encouraged him in her own hobbies, geology and coin- collecting,  while  his  father  schooled  him  in  mathematics  and  science  and  taught  him  surveying.  Together  they  measured  Stonehenge,  and  Petrie  surveyed  ancient  earthworks  in  the  West  Country. In 1880 he went to Egypt to test  the  theory that the Great Pyramid of Khufu had been built by divine inspiration. He surveyed the whole pyramid field, and his careful  measurements refuted the theories of the "British Israelites," which  brought  him  to  the  attention  of  scholars.  Distressed  at  the  destruction of the monuments by careless excavators and treasure- hunters,  he  eagerly  accepted  the  suggestion  of  Amelia  Edwards,  secretary of the newly founded Egypt Exploration Society, that he  should  excavate  at  Tanis in the Nile Delta. In his first season  (1883-1884), he laid down new principles of scientific excavation  in Egypt: careful recording of all finds, even broken objects unfit  for  museum  display,  and  personal  supervision  of  his  workmen,  whom  he  rewarded  for  what  they  found.  Pottery  and  potsherds,  until then discarded as rubbish, became valuable For relative dating  purposes. In the following year, Petrie discovered two Greek cities  in  the  Delta,  Naukcratis  and  Daphne;  a  wealth  of  Greek  pottery  confirmed their identities.

The distinctive black-topped Egyptian pottery of the PreDynastic period associated with Flinders Petrie's Sequence Dating System
The distinctive black-topped
Egyptian pottery of the
PreDynastic period associated with Flinders
Petrie's Sequence Dating System
When he left the Egypt Exploration Society in 1886, Edwards  helped him find private sponsorship. In the Faiyum Depression, to  the  west  of  the Nile,  he  opened  two  brick  pyramids,  found  a  number of mummies of the Roman period with painted portraits,  and excavated a Middle Kingdom town. In 1890, he was persuaded  to dig in Palestine; at Tell el-Hesy he cut a section through the mound, dating the levels there using recovered pottery from Egypt,  with which he was familiar; for this he has been called "the father  of  Palestinian  archaeology."  At  Tell  el-Amama,  one  winter,  he  found  the  palace  of  Akhenaten,  with  its  painted  pavement,  and  Aegean  pottery,  which  established  a  chronological  link  with  the  Mycenaean world. In 1892, Edwards died; she left money to found  a  chair  of Egyptology at  University  College,  London  and  wanted  the  new  professor  to  excavate  in  Egypt  and  train  students.  She  made it clear that Petrie was her choice. In 1905, he left the Egypt  Exploration  Society  for  good  and  founded  the British School of Archaeology in Egypt;  his  wife  Hilda  (Uriin),  whom  he  had  married in 1896, acted as its secretary and main fundraiser for the  rest of their lives, besides helping him in the field.

One  of  Petrie's  most  important  contributions  to  archaeological  science  was  his  system  called  Sequence  Dating.  Another  was  his  discovery of the royal tombs of the first dynasty at Abydos (1899- 1903). Methods and Aims in Archaeology (London, 1904) was to  become  a  textbook  for  his  students,  many  of  whom,  having  survived  the  spartan  regime  of  a  Petrie  camp,  became  archaeologists  of  the  next  generation.  Petrie  set  an  example  with  the prompt publication of his excavation reports; a number of popular books; the journal Ancient Egypt (which he edited);  and lectures that fostered public interest in Egyptology. Elected a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1902  and  a  Fellow  of  the  British  Academy in 1904, he was knighted in 1923. In 1935, he moved to  Palestine;  his  last  fieldwork  was  on  large  tells  near  the  Egyptian  frontier. He died on 29 July 1942, and he is buried in Jerusalem, his  last home.

Petrie's  "Journals"  and  letters  from  the  field  (from  1880  to  1926) are in the Griffith Institute, Oxford; copies of these, and his  notebooks  and  diaries,  are  in  the  Petrie  Museum  at  University  College, London.

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